Firestarter
by Aeladya
Summary: Elli is the new girl in Idaho Falls. She just moved there from Las Vegas. She is a girl who is a loner by nature and doesn't really make friends easily, until she finds out she is a mutant with pyrokinesis. Will she need friends to help her?


**Firestarter**

Elli ate lunch by herself at school. She was a loner and didn't trust anyone. Everyone here was so nice to her however. She had just moved to her new school in boring old Idaho from Nevada. It was the second trimester of the year, which she still wasn't used to because her old school went by semesters, but not here. Elli shoved a slice of pepperoni pizza down her throat and decided she that she had better study for her guitar test next hour. She took her acoustic guitar out of her case and sat on the steps near her new math teacher's room. She didn't know why she sat there. Maybe it was because it was easier to carry her stuff to the pizza counter, which was only a few feet away.

Elli took her book out and began to play. She made a mistake and began to play it again. Elli concentrated hard on it. Her new math teacher, Mrs. O came out of her classroom to go get her lunch and she heard Elli play. Mrs. O had always thought she was an extremely hyper kid who could not pay attention in class for more than two seconds. Mrs. O walked over to Elli. "Hey Elli. You're doing pretty good." she complimented. Elli looked up at her and stopped strumming her guitar.

Elli "Thanks." Elli replied. Elli did have a learning disability. It was ADHD so when she started talking about something it was hard to shut her up. She also was a major space cadet. Mrs. O kneeled down to Elli's height. "Why aren't you eating with your friends?" she asked. Elli did not reply. "Don't you have any friends?" Mrs. O asked. Again Elli said nothing. Elli did not trust people easily.

Elli had a cold stare on her face and she turned her face against the wall. "I don't need any friends." she said with a cold voice. She did not want any friends because she was afraid of losing people she cared the most about. So she never cared about anyone. "Elli, why don't you eat lunch with me?" Mrs. O asked. Elli said nothing once more. "I know you are..." Mrs. O started to say and Elli finished it "I am not lonely. Leave me alone." Elli replied. She put her things away. Elli grabbed her guitar and book bag and started to leave. Mrs. O followed her. "Elli. Do not walk away from me." she said. "I SAID TO LEAVE ME ALONE!" Elli yelled. She dropped to her knees and held her head. A trash can set on fire. Mrs. O of course saw everything. Elli stood up with her arms empty and ran far, far away.

Mrs. O had a special gift too. She had Cryokinesis, the ability to manipulate and create ice. The opposite Elli's ability of Pyrokinesis. Mrs. O had gotten training to control her ability at an institute in Bayville, New York. She understood what it was like to feel different. She felt pretty bad that she had treated Elli like a human, even though she was not. Mrs. O did not particularly like humans and so she sorta seemed like a major bitch in class. She walked into her classroom after grabbing Elli's things and called Professor Charles Xavier, her mentor.

Elli ran outside and hid in a nearby alley. The alley was full of ice and snow. It smelled like something, or someone had died in there. Elli shivered and wrapped herself up in her marshmallow-like coat. She was not used to the cold. Elli breathed out from her nose and saw her breath. It must have been around 15-20 degrees. She was still in shock over what she did and she cried to herself. Elli was Wiccan and so she was familiar with this ability, but she did not know that she, herself would gain the ability to start fires. Elli was confused and scared of her new ability, but she knew she could not go back to school or she might hurt someone.

Mrs. O dialed the Professor. "Yes. How may I help you Pam?" Professor Xavier answered. He was the most powerful telepath in the world so of course he knew who was going to call before the phone even rang. "The girl…Elli…she is…" Mrs. O started to say. "A mutant? Yes. I just got the reading on Cerebro. She lit a trash can on fire with her mind. Pyrokinesis. The exact opposite of your ability. Where is the girl now?" Professor X. asked. "She ran off…" Mrs. O replied. "I see…you must go after her. Try to calm her down. We will be here as soon as we can to retrieve her, but you must try to get her under control. I know it may seem hard, but I have faith in you." Professor X. replied. "I do not know if I can. She does not like me already and I…I…" Mrs. O tried to finish. "You misjudged her?" The Professor asked. "Go to her…she needs help and you are the only one that can help her for now." Professor Xavier said. They hung up. Mrs. O went to the office and requested a sub. She then went to go look for Elli.

"What have I done?" Elli asked herself as she cried. Still in shock, Elli failed to realize the shadows that lurked around her. "There, there child. Do not be afraid. I am someone who can help you control your special gift." The shadow told Elli. Elli turned around. "Who are you?" she asked. "Why, I am just like you. Someone who can help you, guide you." The shadow replied. "I don't need your help. I DON'T NEED ANYONE'S HELP!" Elli yelled angrily and she threw her arm out. Flames emitted from her hand and scorched the brick walls of the buildings that surrounded her.

"Very good. Get all of your anger out. Elli, you have a very angry soul. Those humans have done nothing for you but beat you and abandon you, just like your birth mother did. Your parents were drug addicts and they knew that you and maybe your sister, would have a special gift and they cast you both away, abandoning you, forcing you to live with your grandparents who were totally oblivious to the fact that you were special. "SHUT UP!" Elli yelled. A fireball appeared in her hand and she tossed it to where she heard the voice, but it just bounced off the shadows and hit the wall. "Come; join me and my brotherhood of mutants. Together we can kill all the humans who have hated us." The shadow said. "Don't trust him Elli!" a voice yelled out. It was her math teacher, who had been listening to their conversation nearby. "Dear, dear Pam…Elli is mine. So you and Charles can back off." The shadow said. "No way Magneto. I will not let you get a hold of Elli." Pam replied. "Elli, get out of here. Run." She said. "Are you actually going to trust her? She hated you and despised you because she thought you were an ordinary human being. Now she just wants you to join her because Charles just wants power to add to his team. I will treat you as an individual. I can give you what you want!" Magneto replied.

Magneto walked towards Elli reaching his hand out. Pam reacted quickly and threw her arm out towards Magneto. A shower of ice crystals flew towards him. Magneto dodged them all. "Poor, Pam. You are out of touch. Fortunately for me, I am not." Magneto said. He waved his hand and the necklace on Elli's math teacher began to wrap around her throat, causing Mrs. O to choke to death. Magneto raised her into the air and Elli watched terrified. "N-NO…Don't hurt her! Please do not hurt her!" Elli yelled.

The X-Jet lands at the nearby airport. "What is wrong Charles?" Storm asks. "Magneto, he is nearby. We need to act fast." He says. The X-men follow Magneto's traces to the alley. Cyclops fired a beam of energy from his eyes at Magneto. Magneto moves out of the way, still choking Pam. "NO! STOP! PLEASE DO NOT HURT HER ANYMORE!" Elli yelled. Elli drops to her knees and gets really angry. Magneto's cape catches on fire and he looses his concentration, dropping Mrs. O to the ground. "You twit!" he yelled. Magneto waves his hand and a piece of metal from a wire fence flies towards Elli. It wraps around her neck and begins to choke the life out of her.

Pam regains consciousness and can breath again. She sees that Elli is choking to death herself, but she is too weak to do anything to help. Elli tries to fight off what she can, but fails and falls unconscious. Cyclops fires energy beams from his eyes at Magneto, while Jean throws objects with her telekinesis. Finally Magneto retreats. Mrs. O falls unconscious once more.

When Pam wakes up she is in X-Jet resting. She has regained her full strength. "Good, you are awake. How are you feeling?" Xavier asked. "Much better now. Thank you." Pam replied. "Where is Elli?" she asked. Xavier points to Elli who is resting nearby. Ororo is treating her wounds from the battle. "She was lucky to make it out the battle alive. She almost died." Xavier replied. "It's my fault. I should have gotten there sooner, but…" Pam started to finish. "Do not feel sorry for yourself. You could not have prevented Magneto from showing up." Xavier replied. "I know times have been hard on you. The divorce, loosing custody of your children. That is why I would like to ask if you would help train the new mutants at the institute? You would be helping others like you. It would be a chance to start your life over." Xavier told her. Pam's husband divorced her because she told him that she was a mutant and he hated mutants because they killed his parents. "I-I'm not sure…" she replied.

Elli wakes up and sees a white haired woman treating her wounds. "Well, it looks like you have awaken." The woman said. "Wh-Who are you?" Elli asked in a weak voice. "I am Ororo Munroe. Do not fear, you are among friends." Ororo replied. "How can I be among friends when I don't know any of you?" Elli asked sort of sarcastically. Her voice was still weak and her throat was extremely sore. "Ah, yes. Pam told me you had a smart mouth." Ororo said giggling a bit. "Who?" Elli asked. "Your math teacher. She helped save your life." Ororo told her. "Oh ya…I was being attacked by some weird magnetic dude and she, she tried to warn me and then she got hurt. She got hurt because of me. Another person got hurt because of me and my stupid mistakes." Elli said in a sad voice. "I-Is she…" Elli started to say. "Alive, yes. She is fine. As for you, you are in no condition to be asking questions. You should rest. You almost lost your life today. Just relax." Ororo replied. Elli lay backed down and rested.

Ororo walked back towards Professor Xavier and Pam. "How is she?" Pam asked. "She will be fine. She is a bit weak and her wounds are still healing, but she will live." Ororo replied. "Pam, will you come with me? I wish to show you something." Xavier asked. "Of course Professor." Pam replied and she followed Xavier to a strange room which had tapes. The X-Jet had cameras in it just in case someone took it for a joy ride. "As you know, Elli does not trust people easily, but today it looks like you have gained her trust." Xavier said as he played the tape of Ororo taking care of Elli's wounds. A certain part played: "Oh ya…I was being attacked by some weird magnetic dude and she, she tried to warn me and then she got hurt. She got hurt because of me. Another person got hurt because of me and my stupid mistakes." Elli said in a sad voice. "I-Is she…" Elli started to say. "Alive, yes. She is fine. As for you, you are in no condition to be asking questions. You should rest. You almost lost your life today. Just relax."

"She does not trust people easily because she is afraid of losing them because of her mistakes. That is why she does not make friends. So she will not loose them. Elli has forgotten how to care for anyone. Maybe, just maybe you can help her." Professor Xavier told Pam.

Elli woke back up. Her wounds had disappeared. She wondered about the strange medicine that white-haired woman gave her. "How are you feeling Elli?" a voice asked. Mrs. O was a few feet away. "Fine…" she said quietly. "I want to apologize to you." Her teacher said. "To me? Why?" Elli asked. "Because Magneto was right. At first I did not like you because I thought you were a human. I used to love humans until…" Pam said. She stopped in the middle of her sentence. "Until what?" Elli asked curiously. "My-My husband was human. He did not like mutants because some mutants killed his parents. I finally got the courage to tell him what I was and he went ballistic, he filed for a divorce and custody of the kids." She told Elli. "I-I am sorry…" she said to her teacher. It all went silent for a few moments. "Wh-What Magneto said…it is true." Elli said. "What do you mean? What did he say?" Pam asked. "About my birth parents. They did beat me and abandon me. They probably did send me and my sister away because they suspected us of being different…" Elli said. "No one but they know the truth, but Elli, you shouldn't dwell on the past." Her teacher said. Another silent moment struck. "We are going to go talk to your parents. I want you to have some control over your abilities so you do not harm anyone against your wishes again." Pam said. "Oh yes. I almost forgot." She told Elli. Pam handed Elli her things, guitar included. "Thank you…and I forgive you. I did not trust you at first either so we are even…" Elli said.

Professor Xavier, Pam, and the rest of the X-men went to Elli's house and talked with her parents. After doing some demonstrations of her powers Elli packed all of her things and was taken to the X-mansion along with her math teacher. They both got their own rooms and things went on pretty peacefully for now. Professor Xavier took her to her doctor appointments and got her medicines. Elli, of course, still struggled in math. She even became good friends with Rogue. So she was getting along pretty well there. Elli even finished lessons in guitar and started writing her own music. Things went pretty well for a while. Elli of course still hated school, but now she could hate it in style with new powers. The principal was less than happy to except a new mutant on campus, but Elli just stayed out of his way as much as she could.

It was lunch time again and Elli, of course was stuffing pizza down her throat. "Elli, how can ya be such a pig?" Rogue asked. "What? I'm hungry." Elli replied. "It mihght help if ya actually ate breakfast." Rogue told her. "Nah…breakfast does nothing for me. You can't have pizza for breakfast." Elli told Rogue. Rogue just rolled her eyes at Elli. When Elli finished eating she cleaned herself up and decided to play guitar for the rest of the lunch hour. She got a strange feeling like something bad was going to happen. Elli put her guitar down and decided to take a walk. As she walked by the strange fence that was giving her the strange feeling, someone or something grabbed her from behind. Rogue began to get worried and put Elli's guitar away. She then decided to look for Elli, calling out her name, but she was no where in sight.


End file.
